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David McElroy

making sense of a dysfunctional culture

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Why do I suffer deep alienation when I fear I’m misunderstood?

By David McElroy · May 5, 2018

I’m constantly terrified that you might be judging me.

I hate admitting that. In truth, you probably don’t care enough to judge me. I’m on the periphery of your world — at best — so you barely notice I exist, much less do you judge me. But here I am worried about your judgment.

I fear that random strangers in public think I’m fat and unattractive. I fear that people I work with are going to be offended at something I say and maybe ridicule me behind my back. I fear that clients won’t like me. I fear that I can’t be good enough — smart enough, talented enough, successful enough — for you.

I desperately crave a place where I’m safe. Where I won’t be judged. Where I’ll be accepted — by people who I love and respect — as being good enough just by being the person I am.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: alienation, art, creation, family, father, narcissism, psychology

Did old woman know something? Why was she so calmly certain?

By David McElroy · May 3, 2018

I had seen her in the restaurant before and we had exchanged friendly greetings, but I have no idea who she is. Thursday night, though, we had a longer conversation. She’s intelligent and friendly, but a little reserved.

We talked a little about the days we had at work. She’s 72 and still works in a sales job. (I would have thought she was 10 or 15 years younger than she is.) We talked a little about family and I told her about the recent death of my father. But after about 10 minutes of friendly conversation, she surprised me.

“You need to get married,” she said with quiet certainty and with no context.

“Oh, I’d like to, but I don’t seem to have found the right woman who’s willing to put up with me,” I said, trying to turn it into a light joke.

“You’re going to be married,” she said. “You already know her.”

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: paranormal, psychic

Do great dreams really come true or do they just serve to haunt us?

By David McElroy · April 30, 2018

It was all just a dream — but it seemed so real.

I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind today and my emotions go back and forth between euphoria and bitterness. It’s unlike any dream I remember having. I woke up believing it had really happened.

Even when I made my one short film more than 10 years ago, I didn’t care about the film festival experience. I knew it was good exposure — and I wanted my film to be accepted in more places than the 20 which screened it — but I was ambivalent about the experience of attending.

Some filmmakers dream of having their films accepted at Sundance or some of the other big name festivals. That had never been that big a deal to me — at least emotionally — until I dreamed last night that I was at Sundance — with my wife — for a screening of a film.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: dreams, film festival, relationships, Sundance

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Donald Trump has figured out who to blame for the Donald Trump has figured out who to blame for the the D.C. Reflecting Pool turning green. The dastardly deed was carried out by a specially trained squad of Antifa cats trained by the Far Left. It’s not his fault. Arrest all the cats! #satire #parody
This was the sunset that faced me as I left Walmar This was the sunset that faced me as I left Walmart near my house just a few minutes ago. It was a beautiful light show for just a few minutes.
Here’s proof that reality and satire are indisting Here’s proof that reality and satire are indistinguishable these days.
This was the sunset I saw from the parking lot out This was the sunset I saw from the parking lot outside of the Walmart near my house just after the sun went down Friday evening.
This little parody was inspired by my trip to buy This little parody was inspired by my trip to buy gas a little while ago. Even at a no-name brand, the price was $4.09. If I remember correctly, it was $2.29 a gallon at the same station on the day the war started. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of winning. 🤣
For the best and most sophisticated in lawn care, For the best and most sophisticated in lawn care, check out the sponsor of one of my upcoming YouTube video episodes. 🙃 #parody #threestooges
Have you felt as though you’re living through Grou Have you felt as though you’re living through Groundhog Day lately? Me, too. Here’s a quick-and-dirty political satire I made this evening for fun and stress relief.
About three minutes before sunrise, vibrant color About three minutes before sunrise, vibrant color is poking through the skies to the east of my back yard.
The lights and color might have been more spectacu The lights and color might have been more spectacular a couple of minutes before this, but this was the best view I had of the Monday afternoon sunset from a bridge over I-20 in Moody, Ala.
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Critter Instagram

It’s after 2 a.m., but Oliver is still wide awake It’s after 2 a.m., but Oliver is still wide awake and playing with me.
Sam has come to hang out with me — in order to rem Sam has come to hang out with me — in order to remind me that his dinner is late.
How am I supposed to get any work done with all th How am I supposed to get any work done with all this Oliver fur all over my desk? 😺
The lighting was terrible here — since all the sun The lighting was terrible here — since all the sunlight is behind them — but I liked this short video of Sam giving Oliver a bath. It’s also very loud since I was standing right over an air conditioning vent that was blowing as hard as it could.
When I got home a few minutes ago, Alex wanted som When I got home a few minutes ago, Alex wanted some attention. He was purring loudly when I took this.
I’m happy to report that we’ve made it through ano I’m happy to report that we’ve made it through another day without squirrel attacks here at the house — all thanks to Sam’s vigilance.
I just got home and found Alex already starting to I just got home and found Alex already starting to campaign for dinner.
Sam takes his Neighborhood Watch duties far more s Sam takes his Neighborhood Watch duties far more seriously than most cats do, but the fact that the house hasn’t yet been attacked for squirrels is proof that his advanced methods work.
Right around sunset, Sam was in an office window w Right around sunset, Sam was in an office window when Oliver wanted to be there. So Oliver jumped into the window and crowded his little brother as though he was trying to intimidate him. But Sam stood his ground and Oliver eventually gave up and jumped back down — and Sam kept his spot.
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David likes email, but can’t reply to every message. I get a surprisingly large number of requests for relationship advice — seriously — but time doesn’t permit a response to all of them. (Sorry.)

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It turns out that the radical far left has been training “Antifa cats” to sabotage anything important to Donald Trump. Everything he did was perfect. Honest. It was all the cats’ fault. Arrest all the cats! This is the latest of my ridiculous satirical shorts. Please go watch it. Then “like” it and subscribe. Please. I’m begging you. (Too much?) Although a couple of the previous videos have had views in the hundreds, most have still been seen by fewer than 20 people. So I seem to be having trouble letting people know that page exists.

Here’s the latest of my ridiculous parody shorts. It crossed my mind Tuesday to wonder what a slick and fast-talking car dealer might do right now to try to turn the high price of gasoline to his advantage. So I conceived of a fat and lovable character who tried to sell cars that don’t use any fuel — and then I started wondering if it would be funnier if all the characters were felines. Designing the King Cashpaw character took about four hours, but the rest took only another four hours, so this was a relatively quick piece that virtually wrote itself. I know it’s almost impossible for these parody videos to find a larger audience, but at least they amuse me — and there are 19 of them on my YouTube page now. The first few were very limited, but they’re getting more complex.

The Republican Party is dead. It still exists in name, of course, but it’s nothing but a shell. All that’s left are idiots and stooges and con men of the MAGA party. When Donald Trump is gone — which won’t be long — those populist idiots and pragmatic fools will have no one to follow. Democrats will thrive. They will take more power than ever and they will push the federal government further to the radical far left than ever. When that happens, don’t just blame Trump if you’re a conservative. Blame every person who has claimed to be a conservative and has given up on principles, character and everything else that Republicans once claimed to stand for. As someone who worked as a GOP political consultant for many years, this is disgusting and disturbing to me. Those who have enabled Trump to have almost unchecked power are going to be shocked when they see what they will unleash in the long run. It’s been plain all along what this narcissistic con man is. It’s your fault that you chose to pretend not to see what he really is.

We are ruled by the dumbest and most incompetent people among us — and we have a system which allows stupid and irresponsible people to force the costs of their idiocy onto smarter and wiser people. Can we get away with that? Yes, for quite some time. But we eventually reach a point at which the dumbest of the dumb — who are habitual liars and mentally ill fools — lead us to the disasters and destruction that some of us have seen coming for years. We are approaching that point. And yet most of the idiots around us still wave their rhetorical banners of support for the evil people who are leading us to ruin — and all of them point their fingers at someone else, never noticing that their own enthusiastic support of evil is to blame. When things finally fall apart, blame yourself for your blindness to the evil, not whoever happens to be in power when it happens.

I’ve been making some changes to the site lately and there are more changes coming in the days ahead, so don’t be surprised if you some small differences. This is not a wholesale redesign, but rather the addition of some features. Since they’re smarter than I am, I’ve put Oliver and Alex in charge of the technical work, which you can see in this action photo from the control room of our media complex. I recently added a series of landing pages for readers who randomly discover the site from an Internet search. I’ve also changed the YouTube link at the top of the page to go to the new YouTube channel for video essays that reflect things I’ve already published here. (Here’s a little bit about both of the YouTube channels I’m working on.) In addition, I’m trying to move away from using Instagram, so I’m experimenting with photo plug-ins that will eventually allow me to host the pictures — cats, dogs, sunsets, whatever — that I often take. So don’t be surprised to see more changes. Thanks for your patience. Let’s hope Alex and Oliver know what they’re doing.

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